Strategy: Solve a Simpler Problem

On your way to visit a friend, you leave your house at 2:45 P.M and travel 1 ¾ miles to
the train, 12 ½ miles on the train, and ¾ mile to your friend’s house from the train station. If
you get there at 4:15 P.M.

How many miles per hour did you travel?

1. Understand the Problem

First and foremost, all you have to do is identify the key pieces of information
needed to find the answer. You may need to read the problem several times
and/or put the problem into your own words.
Example of the students’ understanding of the problem:
I know I left at a certain time, arrive at a certain time, and travelled a
certain distance. I need to find how many miles per hour I travelled.

2. Devise a Plan
Instead of doing direct calculation, it might be helpful for you to use simpler
numbers to learn the steps you need to follow to solve it.
Students can change the problem to:
I left the house 1:00, traveled 12 miles, and arrived at 4:00. How many
miles per hour did I travel?

3. Carry out the Plan

First, you have to solve the problem using the simpler numbers.
I left the house 1:00, traveled 12 miles, and arrived at 4:00. How many miles
per hour did I travel? I traveled 12 miles. It took 3 hours. To find the miles per
hour, I divide 12 by 3 to get 4 miles per hour.

4. Look back
Write down the steps you used to solve the problem.
1. Find the distance traveled.
2. Find the time spent.
3. Divide to find the miles per hour.

You can now use the actual numbers from the problem and follow the same
steps.

 Find the distance traveled: 1 ¾ + 12 ½ + ¾ = 15 miles

 Find the time spent: The time from 2:45 to 4:15 is 1 hour and 30 minutes,
or 1 ½ hours.
 Divide to find the miles per hour: 15 divided by 1 ½ = 10 miles per hour.
Narrative Report in
Problem Solving

Baby Jane S. Espejon

Sheena E. Vista
Hannah Shann A. Gervacio